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By Ovum, 6 August 2003 08:21

COMMENT Call centres get bad press. They frustrate plenty of us. But, says Ovum analyst Alex Kwiatkowski, they are here to stay and can provide your business with an edge... Call centres – in one guise or another – are going to be with us for an awfully long time. Admittedly, there's an excellent chance that they'll be located in Bombay rather than Bristol. But let's be honest, how would you actually be able to tell the difference in these days of accent training and more besides? I'm going to stick my stumpy neck out here and, go on record stating that in my opinion, the call centre is one of – if not the – most important elements in any business. And on what foundation is this based? Because with the possible exception of the initial contact at the point of sale, the call centre is the principle point of interaction between customer and enterprise. Yet bizarrely, far from being an integral part of an organisation, call centres appear to be given low priority on the corporate food chain, where career prospects are limited and operational problems can be dealt with using the 'out of sight, out of mind' approach. The situation has been exacerbated by the shift towards offshore outsourcing in an effort to slash operational expenditure, where customer management deficiencies lose visibility and control becomes a thorny issue. While there are undoubtedly major cost benefits to be enjoyed from outsourcing all or part of the operation to countries like India, any company considering going down this route should at least be aware that it's not some Harry Potteresque magic spell which can be used to cure every customer problem under the sun. I'm always left feeling slightly vexed as to why call centres aren't given a more significant role within many organisations. A bit of a no-brainer but it seems to me that in the private sector considerable time, money and effort are spent on brand development and marketing activity. However, more often than not this takes place without the tacit realisation that the call centre – which after all is the human face or to be more accurate, voice of the business – is every bit as important as a slick product advertising campaign dreamt up by some creative types in trendy Farringdon. By closely integrating the call centre, both in terms of technology and people, with other functional areas, there's a sporting chance that customers will respond favourably to this unified approach. As I mentioned to a colleague recently – in a moment of philosophical reflection – "You can say anything with words but it's actions that count". After she finished laughing at me, I realised this sounded more than a little trite and not exactly a groundbreaking statement. So what mission critical role can call centres play, not only today but for the future? Join me for a moment as we climb aboard the time machine and re-visit the 1990s, when Britannia was cool, Tony Blair looked considerably less haggard and the term 'high-tech' was no longer associated with a cheap sports shoe of dubious quality and questionable design. Clever people in nice suits smoothly sold us the notion of creating and driving brand value, maximising customer opportunities and delivering corporate loyalty programmes. Or to use simple, old-fashioned language, advertise more, sell more and beat the competition into a bloody pulp in the process. Returning to the present day, I take the view that these strategies could have delivered so much more 'value' if the call centre had played a more central rather than peripheral role. The call centre is a place where the success of expensively implemented strategic sales and marketing programmes can be accurately measured. Moreover, it offers a fantastic mechanism for enterprises to get closer to understanding the current and future needs of customers and then actually do something about it. So has a golden chance been missed? In a word, 'No'. This in itself is good news but there really has to be a concerted effort to better utilise the call centre as a place of opportunity, rather than a burdensome cost. At a time when slashing thousands of pounds, euros and dollars from operational expenditure seems to be a popular approach, I actually counsel against depleting resources in the call centre area. There are more creative – dare I say sophisticated – ways to make the call centre deliver increased value to any business without throwing the proverbial corporate chequebook at it. But to find out how, you'll have to join me next time Alex Kwiatkowski is Consulting Group Manager at Ovum and specialises in contact centre technology and customer management strategies. Contact Alex directly on Email your comments to AIK@Ovum.com.